This is not a romance. This is not a pat little ending about Jonathan and I riding off into the sunset. I knew I was never destined for that, but no one warned me about the pain. No one told me about the hurt. No one told me what I'd risk for him.

Deliciously enticing & one all time favorite serie

Fizzled out

Overall

3 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-12-18

This is the third in the series, and it just bored me to tears. It was all I could do to get to the end of it. I think even the author got bored with writing it. After all the hours of this audio book, I think it had tapped itself out for the genre. I felt like I was wading through a miasma of mundane. Maybe being a registered nurse, the whole sick part and heart transplant, the following issues were a little out of place. Really, who wants a hero that goes through that? I have to live that daily with patients. The transition from heart transplant to getting on with life was instantly "two years later" in next chapter. Yet, the issues they are dealing with two years later are more like 4 to 6 months later at best and just absolutley bored me to tears. Seriously, a thirty something year old man with some intelligence needs to hire a nurse to make him shakes and make sure he takes his anti-rejection medication two years later? Which, I guess in all reality, transplant patients, and those who lost a lot of blood, tend to have some residual mental functioning issues, but who wants to know this about their hero?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Submission

The Submission Series, Book 1

By:
CD Reiss

Narrated by:
Jo Raylan

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,385

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,295

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,292

Jonathan Drazen is a known womanizer and a gorgeous piece of man I'm not letting into my heart. Ever. Yeah, he's rich, beautiful, charming as hell, and he has a wit as sharp as a double-edged razor... but he's made it perfectly clear that this is a short-term f--k. Three nights, tops, then we part like sexually satisfied grown-ups. I believe him when he says he can't love me. I'm not trying to fall in love, either. We get in. Get it on. Get the hell out. Done. Right? Right.

Fan-Freaking-Tastic!

Sultry slow ride

Overall

5 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-01-18

The Games Duet series is more BDSM than this. I have seen reviews calling this boring and I am thinking that is what the particular listener wanted, more hard core BDSM. Being a sub, with my dom for three decades, I can say this is a nice, sultry slow ride. Think training a puppy. The narrator is one of my favorite to listen to by far. I loved the sarcastic sense of humor. I loved the patience of the dom. Hey, you don't do this for three decades without a dom that is nothing but loving; none of that assinine drivel of Fifty Shades that those of us in a D/S relationship and BDSM world think is the biggest bunch of horse shit ever pushed onto the ignorant vanilla world ever. Heads up vanilla world, your dom has to be loving and patient, and powerfully in control of himself, or he isn't worthy of being total master of his sub.

New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939 - and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement.

The cover is a bit misleading, but...

Well worth it

Overall

5 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-05-17

First off: normally I do not like multiple narrators but this audible just nailed it! There really would be no efficient way to have this narrated otherwise considering it is the story of three women from three different countries. All were very, very well done. The reader who read Caroline perfectly captured a woman from privilege who selflessly gave so much of her life. Herta was well read, and captured her coldness and haughty self denial. And Kasha is the bright and shining star through out.

Let’s discuss Herta: I did not realize, until nearly done with this Audible, that she is a real person. She started out with such promise and I ended up hating her with a passion. From Polish Jewish roots, and who knows how many of my family ended up in Ravensbruck, I just simply hated her. And hated that she got off basically free after her horrific crimes. Only a good author can take a character of such revile, and have you sympathetic in the beginning, hook you in, and reel in such a rotten, despicable person in a very real way.

Kasha: what an incredible survivor. That anyone could have survived being a Rabbit in Ravensbruck is almost beyond belief. Those women were made of tough stuff. I related to her most all, due to my roots.

Caroline: she is the type of person, that if you were born into that life, you would emulate. I loved her and loved her mother. Her American spunk, her love for France, her dedication to the children, her love for Paul and letting him go, was just amazing.

I don’t want to give much away. Yes, it is of dark stuff, but it is real, and does not need to be forgot. And there is no gratuitous passages anywhere for the sake of being violent. This story perfectly captures the early whispers of WWII, how women of three different countries/lifestyles dealt with the atrocities, and what became of them in the end.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

The Hypnotist's Love Story

By:
Liane Moriarty

Narrated by:
Tamara Lovatt Smith

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
7,955

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
7,182

Story

4 out of 5 stars
7,164

Ellen O’Farrell is a bit unusual. She’s a hypnotherapist. She’s never met her father. And she can’t seem to keep a relationship going. (Okay, that’s more normal that we want to admit.) When Ellen meets Patrick, she’s hopeful nevertheless. But when he says he needs to tell her something, she fears the worst. When Patrick reveals that his ex-girlfriend is stalking him, Ellen thinks, "Is that all?" She’s more intrigued than frightened. She’d love to meet her. What she doesn’t know is that she already has.

4 out of 5 stars

a twisted love story...so interesting!

Awful people

Overall

2 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-25-17

I love Liane Moriarty's books....that said, this one just fell short. I cannot think of a group of characters I liked least in any book I have read or listened to in the last year or so. The whole lot of them were pathetic. You actually end up liking the stalker better than anyone. None of them appeared to have any sense at all. If Ellen had any sense she would have run away from Patrick immediately. Any man who shacks up with a woman for the convenience to raise his baby then dumps her without any warning or explanation, not giving her so much as a second thought, is worthless in my book. I kept thinking Ellen must surely come to her senses and give Patrick the boot. Just a huge let down from Moriarty's previous books I have listened to. Saskia was a complete idiot to pine for such a loser as Patrick for three years. No self respecting woman of this era would continue to do so. The only bright spot was the narration.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Be Frank with Me

A Novel

By:
Julia Claiborne Johnson

Narrated by:
Tavia Gilbert

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
2,174

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
2,004

Story

4 out of 5 stars
2,004

Reclusive literary legend M. M. "Mimi" Banning has been holed up in her Bel Air mansion for years. But after falling prey to a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme, she's flat broke. Now Mimi must write a new book for the first time in decades, and to ensure the timely delivery of her manuscript, her New York publisher sends an assistant to monitor her progress. The prickly Mimi reluctantly complies - with a few stipulations: no Ivy Leaguers or English majors. Must drive, cook, tidy. Computer whiz. Good with kids.

5 out of 5 stars

A Whirlwind

Frankly speaking

Overall

5 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-03-17

This is, hands down, the best audio book I have listened to in a long while, and our library of Audibles has grown quite extensive over the last few years. I absolutely fell in love with all the characters. Tavia Gilbert, who has just been awarded Audible's Best Female Narrator of the year is so good with each character's voice that you are never, ever confused for a moment as to who is speaking. Her execution of Frank and Mi Mi is spot on.

I know many people have complained a bit about the ending and wanting more resolution, however, I thought the ending was brilliant. What resolution would you have for Frank? Or Mi Mi? Or Alice? To be less than who they are? I would much rather they ride off in the sunset, or sunrise, as Alice did, and leave the listener to surmise what happened. As Mi Mi answered Frank toward the end of the book, when he asked a question about what happened to her fictional character, a little boy, in the end, she simply said, "I wish I knew."

The story is beautifully executed and I cannot wait for the next book by Julia Claiborne Johnson, and now have a new-to-me narrator to follow.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Time Was

Time and Again, Book 1

By:
Nora Roberts

Narrated by:
Luke Daniels

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
2,366

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
2,155

Story

4 out of 5 stars
2,165

Stranded in the present, time traveler Caleb Hornblower's biggest problem isn't returning to the twenty-third century - but falling head over heels for the beguiling Liberty Stone, who shows him a love more powerful than time itself. Though Caleb knows he belongs in the future, how can he leave the past, and Liberty, behind?

3 out of 5 stars

boring story, terrible characters

Just awful

Overall

1 out of 5 stars

Performance

1 out of 5 stars

Story

1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-05-17

I tried really hard on this one to at least give it an hour. I made it 35 minutes. A good narrator can make a bad story worth slogging through. A bad narrator can make a good story painful but you might stick it out. But a bad narrator and a horrible story is just hell on earth to listen to. Even if you need something in the background to mindlessly listen to. I was a little surprised as I thought Nora Robert's was a big time author. There are so many bad lines but "he had time to register she was tall and very firm" just about did me in. I managed another 12 minutes and then threw in the towel.

Per the narrator: it is like hearing a news anchor read the evening news.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Blackout

Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget

By:
Sarah Hepola

Narrated by:
Sarah Hepola

Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,907

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,728

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,728

For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure." She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened 21st-century woman. But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life. A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor,
Blackout is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure - the sober life she never wanted.

Blackout: A Knockout

Gut wrenching

Overall

5 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-18-17

This has to be one of the most raw and gut wrenching memoirs ever written. And extremely well read by the author herself. For those of us who have struggled with blackout drinking, I cannot even imagine telling someone about it, yet to write a book about it, and then narrate it yourself has to be hard. This is not a self help book so much as a 'you are not alone' book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

And the Rest Is History

The Chronicles of St. Mary's, Book 8

By:
Jodi Taylor

Narrated by:
Zara Ramm

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,328

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,228

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,224

Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don't call it time travel - these historians investigate major historical events in contemporary time. And they aren't your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster magnets.

Darkest St. Mary's Yet...

How does Jodi Taylor do it?

Overall

5 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-18-17

Most series, by book 8, get stale, and little routine. Jodi Taylor just absolutely knocks it out of the ballpark each and every St Mary's installment. The storyline, the characters, the dialogue, they are all spot on. And she leaves room for more. This time though, and I will NOT give spoilers, she has left massive room for a super cool twist to the regular St Mary's Chronicle to absolutely skyrocket this series even further than we could ever imagine. My only regret is that I started listening the day it came out and am through with it, and now have to wait a year for the next one. Good thing poor Jodi is being chained to writing desk, as she usually will have a short story about an event and a particular St Mary's character between series books. Our only hope!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Villa in Italy

By:
Elizabeth Edmondson

Narrated by:
Nicolette McKenzie

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
844

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
752

Story

4 out of 5 stars
755

Marvellously atmospheric tale of strangers summoned to a grand but neglected villa on the Italian coast. Each of them has been named in a will, but nobody knows their benefactress.... Four very different people are named in a will. Delia, an opera singer robbed of her voice by illness; George, an idealistic scientist who cannot face what his skills have created; Marjorie, desperately poor and unable to dislodge her writer’s block; and Lucius, ostensibly in control but whose personal life is in chaos.

A gentle mystery.

Ditched it three hours in

Overall

1 out of 5 stars

Performance

1 out of 5 stars

Story

1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-30-17

I will stubbornly hang onto the worst audio books but I just could not finish this one. Beyond boring and the narration is awful. It took me a bit to understand that Jessica and Delia were actually women in their 20's as the narrator reads them like old women. Would have been hard to distinguish which character was speaking had it not been followed by phrases such "Delia said" or "Marjorie exclaimed" as they all sounded alike. While I love a languid, slow story that gently unfolds this is just unbearably tedious beyond words. At least I wasted only a half credit (one of those buy two for one credit sales)

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Distant Shores

By:
Kristin Hannah

Narrated by:
Bernadette Quigley

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
318

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
267

Story

4 out of 5 stars
267

Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a future together. But after the children leave home, they quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job offer, Elizabeth puts her needs aside to follow him across the country. Until the sudden death of her father changes everything.

4 out of 5 stars

Hit way too close to home

Hit way too close to home

Overall

4 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-28-17

Having been married nearly 33 years and moved 22 times in that period to a husband who is also a superstar in his field, I oh so get it. I, too, am at that point of my life where I have just about had it with the moves and being put on the back burner. Having raised our child, who is grown and gone, and having to had forgone any sort of career and wondering just what the heck do I do now, and what do I want to do; I really got this one. It is hard being married to a man who is sexy, gorgeous and successful and being a wife looked at by his younger female coworkers as arm candy with no intelligence. You find yourself isolating and not being able to connect and make friends any longer because you know it will end in a couple of years or so. Many times listening to this my heart would just ache. I actually feel a little inspired to get some brushes, canvas, and paint and see if I can still create art like I used to when I was young. I even wish there was a Passionless Woman group as encouragement.